diff --git a/src/MaxText/pyconfig.py b/src/MaxText/pyconfig.py
index c60c8f8cc9..07732d2bd4 100644
--- a/src/MaxText/pyconfig.py
+++ b/src/MaxText/pyconfig.py
@@ -233,6 +233,10 @@ def initialize_pydantic(argv: list[str], **kwargs) -> MaxTextConfig:
   if model_name != "default":
     # First try relative to base config path
     model_config_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(config_path), "models", f"{model_name}.yml")
+    # Try looking for "models" under "src/maxtext/configs/"
+    if not os.path.isfile(model_config_path):
+      model_config_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(config_path)), "models", f"{model_name}.yml")
+
     if not os.path.isfile(model_config_path):
       # Fallback to default location within package
       dir_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
diff --git a/tests/unit/pyconfig_test.py b/tests/unit/pyconfig_test.py
index 6a0353153e..335d2e92b2 100644
--- a/tests/unit/pyconfig_test.py
+++ b/tests/unit/pyconfig_test.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 from MaxText import pyconfig
 from MaxText.pyconfig import resolve_config_path
 from MaxText.globals import MAXTEXT_PKG_DIR
-from tests.utils.test_helpers import get_test_config_path
+from tests.utils.test_helpers import get_test_config_path, get_post_train_test_config_path
 
 
 class PyconfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -85,6 +85,18 @@ def test_overriding_model(self):
     self.assertEqual(config.base_emb_dim, 1024)
     self.assertEqual(config.base_mlp_dim, 24576)
 
+  def test_overriding_model_in_sft(self):
+    # TODO: Update MAXTEXT_PKG_DIR after repo restructuring is complete.
+    config = pyconfig.initialize(
+        [os.path.join("maxtext.trainers.post_train.sft.train_sft"), get_post_train_test_config_path("sft")],
+        skip_jax_distributed_system=True,
+        model_name="llama3.1-8b",
+        override_model_config=True,
+    )
+
+    self.assertEqual(config.base_emb_dim, 4096)
+    self.assertEqual(config.base_mlp_dim, 14336)
+
   def test_resolve_config_path(self):
     self.assertEqual(resolve_config_path("foo"), os.path.join("src", "foo"))
     self.assertEqual(resolve_config_path(__file__), __file__)
diff --git a/tests/utils/test_helpers.py b/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
index d8603041e6..656e0e1c37 100644
--- a/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
@@ -35,6 +35,15 @@ def get_test_config_path():
   return os.path.join(MAXTEXT_CONFIGS_DIR, base_cfg)
 
 
+def get_post_train_test_config_path(sub_type="sft"):
+  """Return absolute path to the chosen test config file.
+
+  Returns `decoupled_base_test.yml` when decoupled, otherwise `base.yml`.
+  """
+  base_cfg = "rl.yml" if sub_type == "rl" else "sft.yml"
+  return os.path.join(MAXTEXT_CONFIGS_DIR, "post_train", base_cfg)
+
+
 def get_test_dataset_path(cloud_path=None):
   """Return the dataset path for tests.
 
@@ -70,5 +79,6 @@ def get_test_base_output_directory(cloud_path=None):
 __all__ = [
     "get_test_base_output_directory",
     "get_test_config_path",
+    "get_post_train_test_config_path",
     "get_test_dataset_path",
 ]